By Pantelis Boukalas

Television channels presented the “news item” as something charming, despite its inherent barbarism: A little Mexican boy, a mere 9-year-old, in the middle of an arena, dressed in an embroidered suit and fighting a bull with flourishes of his cape and sword. It is quite evident that he is in danger. We watch as the bull charges toward him and throws him down once, twice, a third time. Each time, the youngster is saved by his helpers — matadors or picadors, or whatever they’re called. We are then shown the boy crying — “with happiness” he tells the TV reporter, perhaps the response he has been trained to give. There follows an interview with the boy’s father, who claims to be proud of his offspring who, he says, was spotted by a scout at a bullfighting school who decided to make him famous. Apparently, the 9-year-old has already participated in 24 bullfights, and his agent has many more lined up.

Now, I do not know what laws exist in Mexico regarding parents’ obligations and child labor (if this is actually labor we are talking about here rather than just systematically exposing a child to danger). In any case, there is nothing charming about news items like this which show children forced to grow up before their time through fear and the methodical exploitation of their talent.

Similarly, there is nothing charming about exposing half-naked girls to the “critical eye” of ostensible experts, as was the case in the beauty pageant broadcast on private Antenna channel recently. The girls, as young as 16, are made to feel inadequate for their inability to beam confidently as they are scrutinized for flaws like so many cuts of beef. These girls, too, are victims of an ostensibly painless exploitation.